Testing results open to interpretation

May 19, 2014

The good news is that high school seniors in West Virginia have made some modest progress in their math scores while nationwide the average scores for high school seniors in both math and reading have not changed since 2009.

This alarming report released earlier this month from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) concludes that the average math score remains at 153 on a scale of 300 while the average reading score was unchanged at 288 out of 500.

According to these results, only one of every four students scored at or above proficiency in math and only 37 percent met the same standing when it comes to reading.

Former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise, who is now president of the Alliance for Excellent Education, said the Nation's Report Card results reflect a "desperate" need for aggressive implementation of Common Core standards.

The latest numbers indicate that about 14 percent of high school seniors in West Virginia demonstrate proficiency in math and reading, respectively, compared to 24 percent and 36 percent of seniors nationwide. But proficiency in math in this state has improved by only one percent since 2009 while test scores have increased four points.

Administering the NAEP tests to fourth- and fifth-graders is a requirement to receive federal aid under the No Child Left Behind Act, but states can volunteer to have additional testing of high school seniors.

West Virginia participated in voluntary testing in 2009 and was one of 11 states to do so this year.

Only four of those states -Arkansas, Connecticut, Idaho and West Virginia -showed improvement in math, while only Arkansas and Connecticut also made improvements in reading.

Test scores have also remained unchanged when broken down into gender and race subcategories.

White students have tested higher than black students by about 30 points both in 2009 and 2013. In 2013, 33 percent of the white students scored proficient or above in math, compared to only seven percent of black students.

The same gap is present in reading test scores, with 47 percent of white students scoring proficient or above compared to only 16 percent of black students.

In West Virginia, where 92 percent of the students are white, minority students also have lower test scores in math and reading. The current trends are that black students have average math and reading scores that are 12 and 11 points lower than white students.

But that gap has been reduced since 2009. That year, black students scored 21 fewer points on the math test than white students did.

And reading scores for black students in West Virginia have dropped by six points, even though the gap in reading proficiency is closer than the national average. So not all of the present statistics are as promising in this state, just as they are not so promising nationwide. ...

MEANWHILE, while more than 90 percent of Kanawha County residents who responded to a Kanawha-Charleston Health Department survey back on April 3-8 said they were using West Virginia American Water - three months after the Jan. 9 spill - only 36 percent were using it for drinking and just 28 percent said they believed the water was "safe."

Most important was the fact that four of every five respondents said they found out about the "do not use" order on the day of the incident in January.

Yet, nearly one in four of those responding said they used the water anyway when the do-not-use order was in effect.

While the do-not-use order was in effect, nearly one of every four respondents to the survey said they used the water anyway. More than three-fourths of those responding said they used the water to take showers, while only 37 percent said they used the water for drinking.

The majority of respondents relied on alternative drinking water, most either going to a large retailer or to an unaffected community.

According to information received in the April survey, about one of every three respondents said they had less than one gallon of purchased water on hand at the time of the spill.

And about one in ten admitted to collecting rain water for a water source, something that Health Department Director Rahul Gupta said "intrigued" him because of the national media stories on the subject. ...

FINALLY, Congressman Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., easily won his 20th race in last week's primary election to represent West Virginia's 3rd District by defeating political newcomer Richard Ojeda.

But now he must prepare for a general election battle in November with Republican challenger Evan Jenkins of Huntington.

Jenkins recently switched political parties while serving in the West Virginia State Senate from the 5th Senatorial District of Cabell and Wayne counties, moving from the lopsided Democratic majority in the 34-member upper house of the Legislature to a back-row seat in the Republican minority there.

Rahall said he wants to challenge Jenkins to several debates during the months leading up to the November general election.